Training and consulting
on user assistance
in the UK and Europe

RoboHelp training course: Mastering Adobe RoboHelp 7

Related information

Matthew Ellison's article Getting started with RoboSource Control 3 in RoboHelp 7 on Adobe's RoboHelp Developer Center
Adobe's Technical Communication Blog

Who is the RoboHelp training for?

This training course enables novice and intermediate users of Adobe RoboHelp 7 to use the full range of key features with confidence. No previous experience of working with RoboHelp is required—however, familiarity with the Windows operating system (2000 or later) is a prerequisite.

How will I benefit from this RoboHelp training?

After taking the training course, you will be equipped to use Adobe RoboHelp more efficiently and effectively, and to maximise the benefits of this powerful Help Authoring Tool. The course can be customized to your specific objectives, and provides many practical guidelines and tips for creating the best Help format to suit your users' needs.

If required, training on earlier versions of RoboHelp (from X3 onwards) can be provided.

Training course duration

Standard training course:	Three days
Custom training course:	One to three days, depending on your objectives and previous experience

How is the RoboHelp training delivered?

This training course is delivered in the following three ways:

Hands-on classroom training for groups of one to eight students at your own place of work
Scheduled three-day training classes in Ringwood, Hampshire, UK (please contact us for next available dates and pricing)
Web-based coaching as a series of 90-minute instructor-led interactive sessions

RoboHelp training course outline

Collapsed Key Help concepts and fundamentals

What makes an online Help system effective and easy to use?
Overview of the online Help project life-cycle
Planning an online Help system
Comparing and contrasting the various Help formats
- Microsoft HTML Help
- WebHelp
- WebHelp Pro
- FlashHelp
- JavaHelp

Collapsed Optional: Overview of new features in RoboHelp 7

The new pod-based user interface
Working with the Multiple Document Interface (MDI)
Improvements to FrameMaker import
Snippets
Multiple TOCs, indexes, and glossaries
WebHelp and FlashHelp enhancements

Collapsed Guided tour of the RoboHelp user interface

Editor: Design and HTML views
Pods
Topics List
HTML View
Project Manager
RoboHelp Options
Project Settings
Customising the interface

Collapsed Creating a basic project

Creating a new project
Creating new topics
Editing topics and their properties
Organising topics within folders
Making changes to multiple topics with a single operation

Collapsed Importing legacy documents

Importing HTML files
Importing Word documents
Importing FrameMaker documents
Tips for ensuring the cleanest possible formatting markup in RoboHelp after import

Collapsed Working with styles and style sheets

Introduction to Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), required for a fuller understanding of RoboHelp styles
Creating a new style sheet
Working with the all-important BODY style
Modifying the standard RoboHelp styles
Previewing topics
Creating and modifying custom styles
Applying style sheets to multiple topics

Collapsed Adding navigational elements

Three different ways to insert hyperlinks
Creating a table of contents quickly and efficiently
A comprehensive strategy for indexing your Help
Adding keywords to topics (using Topic Properties)
Adding topics to keywords (using the Index Designer)
Tips and shortcuts for indexing more efficiently
Pros and cons of using the Smart Index Wizard
Creating Glossary terms and definitions
Tips for using the Glossary Hotspot Wizard

Collapsed Working with images

Selecting the best image file format for your needs (.GIF, .JPG, or .PNG)
Capturing and resizing screenshots
Working with RoboScreen Capture
Inserting images using drag-and-drop
Adding hotspots to images

Collapsed Generating and publishing your Help

Understanding single-source layouts
Setting options for HTML Help and WebHelp
Generating (compiling) the Help
Producing reports for project management
Practical strategies and tips for fixing broken links
Publishing WebHelp files

Collapsed Exploiting topic templates

Understanding the concepts of topic templates, headers, and footers
Understanding how topic templates and style sheets work together
Creating a new topic template
Creating new topics from a topic template
Applying a topic template to multiple topics
Controlling header and footer information across multiple topics

Collapsed Working with Conditional Build Tags

Understanding the concept of single-sourcing and conditional text
Examples of common single-sourcing scenarios
Creating conditional build tags
Applying conditional build tags to content within topics
Applying topic-level conditional build tags
Reasons for applying conditional build tags to TOC pages and index keywords
Creating a conditional build expression
Creating custom single-source layouts
Previewing topics with conditional build expressions

Collapsed Context-sensitive Help

Understanding the principles of context-sensitive Help
Working with programmers to plan context-sensitive Help
Creating a Map file
Importing a Map file
Assigning Map IDs to topics
Introduction to the WebHelp API
Testing context-sensitive Help

Collapsed Advanced Techniques

Implementing DHTML drop-downs and expanding text
Working with user-defined variables
Creating modular Help systems (when multiple Help files are merged)
Planning and implementing "See Also" links
Creating and modifying WebHelp skins

Collapsed Additional optional topics

Working with RoboSource Control 3 or an equivalent version control system
Working with RoboHelp Server
Creating and formatting tables
Adding bookmark links
Creating and modifying browse sequences

Introducing your trainer

No-one has a better track-record of presenting RoboHelp training within the UK and Europe than Matthew Ellison. Matthew is an Adobe Community Expert for RoboHelp and Captivate, is an Adobe Certified Instructor, and has worked with RoboHelp since 1994 (version 2.0). Matthew's RoboHelp expertise is backed by 20 years of experience as a practising user assistance professional in the software industry. He is a part-time lecturer for Portsmouth University's MA Technical Communication course, and is a qualified teacher (PGCE) and Certified Technical Trainer. Matthew has published a number of articles on RoboHelp, including: